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Making a Physical Product

b.jonw.com

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Re: Making a Physical Product

#91

Post by padraigm »

DividesByZero wrote: post #35
sequoia wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems that if you want to make a probability based game you ought to have at least a working knowledge of the basics. People have been making games of chance since long before advanced mathematics. Being a statistician doesn't necessarily mean you can design a great game - the opposite holds as well.

That's true, but I'm sure it would have helped while the author was trying to balance the game out to better understand the sources of particular imbalances, rather than having to guess-and-iterate on them.

The guess-and-iterate method would still be more efficient than trying to work through a stats textbook if the author is not educated in mathematics, though. Anyway, a lot of people don't enjoy learning math (crazy as that concept may seem to me, and, I guess, you) but guessing-and-iterating on a game you're excited about would always be fun.

Re: Making a Physical Product

#92

Post by soggypenny »

grannyg00se wrote: post #70
soggypenny wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A solution to this problem is EXACTLY what my co-founder and I are working on right now. We're working to be Match.com for custom-made parts, and highly specialized shops like your dad's are the ideal use case for our product. Would you be willing to talk directly or put me in touch with your dad? We'd love to help out any way we can.

I'm looking for a match to a die casting or cnc milling shop. Your contact info is not in your profile. Care to shoot me an email?

Hi grannyg00se! I don't see an email in your profile, so:

1. Rob 2. SupplyBetter.com

1 @ 2 is my email. Let's talk.

Re: Making a Physical Product

#94

Post by soggypenny »

krschultz wrote: post #81
soggypenny wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A solution to this problem is EXACTLY what my co-founder and I are working on right now. We're working to be Match.com for custom-made parts, and highly specialized shops like your dad's are the ideal use case for our product. Would you be willing to talk directly or put me in touch with your dad? We'd love to help out any way we can.

Have a landing page or someplace to signup for more info later?

Yes, indeed! supplybetter.com is our landing page. We're always looking for feedback on our service and site, so feel free to hit us up!

Re: Making a Physical Product

#95

Post by aik »

This looks great. I have no experience with selling physical products and so not sure what it takes, but I would think selling these on various specialty websites and specialty stores could work great. Thinkgeek.com is one that comes to mind.

Re: Making a Physical Product

#97

Post by thezoid »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #85
MrThousand wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea of an iOS app sounds great. Why waste paper when you can simply click "new game" on your phone?

I think there's scope for including the scoring as part of the packaging, no "waste paper". My first inclination is a two part sleeve - but I'm assuming then it's a two player game, more players requires some ingenuity - the sleeves start at zero score and cover the lower numbers, moving towards the highest possible score at the centre as the sleeves meet and cover the whole container. Perhaps a graduated stick, like…

Download zombie dice. It does pretty much that. Score tracking, die rolling, etc. And I'll tell you that it's hardly what you'd call fun (even though I'd say Zombie dice isn't that interesting).

Re: Making a Physical Product

#98

Post by tomkinstinch »

krschultz wrote: post #83
learc83 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind if I ask what was the quantity for your injection molded part, and what company you ended up going with. Last time I tried to price injection molding it was way too much.

The best I've found so far for low (<10,000) unit injection mold runs is Protomold.

Another vote for Protomold here. Their prototyping prices are good, and they will help you adjust your design to mold well. The only main drawbacks are that you don't own the mold (forget about moving it to a different manufacturer), and they aren't keen on machining very small features.

Re: Making a Physical Product

#99

Post by gregpilling »

bigiain wrote: post #84
yajoe wrote: post #47

Really cool to see the numbers and congrats on making the product! One nit to emphasize the value in basic accounting knowledge for others when going down the manufacturing route: it's $11.37 _gross_ margin (aka gross profit, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_margin ), not _net_ profit ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_Margin ). While this may sound silly and academic, net confers a sense of finality -- it i…

Good analysis. One comment though - if the intention is to get the game onto the shelf in retail stores, there's not enough margin in it at the current cost/pricing. A store is going to require most (or all) of that margin - in most "dice game" type stores, if you want to put a product on the shelf at $20, you're going to need to sell it to the store for somewhere around $14 or they're not going to be interested. See…

Most retail outlets in my experience would want to purchase the $20 retail item for $8, giving them a 60% margin. Source - 20 years of doing this.

Re: Making a Physical Product

#100

Post by gregpilling »

willtheperson wrote: post #32
learc83 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind if I ask what was the quantity for your injection molded part, and what company you ended up going with. Last time I tried to price injection molding it was way too much.

My dad runs a small plastic injection molding company. He's got a single bread and butter product they make, but he's always looking for new ideas. Is there a way for people to easily connect with manufacturers in the USA? My dads shop is really small and hungry vs some shop you could find in a google search with lots of machines (and expensive)

mfg.com is a place that I use to find new suppliers on a regular basis.
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